Review: The Summer Set – Stories For Monday

The Summer Set are a pop rock band from Scottsdale, Arizona, who have seen a good amount of success, most recently with the release of their previous album Legendary which garnered the band enough success to win Macy’s iHeart Radio Rising Star Competition, as well as participate in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Culminating with this release the band also started HMK, the Half Moon Kids initiative: a forum that assists in supporting the band’s musical efforts.

Stories for Monday is the band’s fourth studio album and can be best described with a line from the opening track ‘Figure Me Out’: “I’m a bit too pop for the punk kids, but I’m too punk for the pop kids.” The album’s sound resides in a nice grey area between pop and punk, which has always been the sound The Summer Set has aimed for, but this album definitely contains some of their best efforts yet at that. From that opening track we also get a set up from that sound, then we detour a bit into ‘The Night Is Young,’ another party track with a touch more melody on top. ‘Missin’ You’ and ‘Jean Jacket’ are both summer-time care-ride soon-to-be classics, but also sit a bit in the uncanny valley as far as their cheesey lyrics go; however, that saxophone piece in ‘Jean Jacket’ is a nice touch. From ‘All My Friends’ to ‘All In’ we get a large stream of more upbeat party songs, which fill the space out quite nicely, until we arrive at the track ‘Wonder Years,” which expands more on the melodic sound hinted at in ‘The Night Is Young.’ We finish the album out with ‘When the Party Ends (Can’t Hardly Wait),’ a definite 90’s throwback and a great listen, and ‘Wasted,’ which returns back to the standard sound of the album.

Stories for Monday is a fun listen through-and-through; it doesn’t offer a lot in the variety department but what it does offer might be The Summer Set’s most enjoyable tunes and gives the listener a good return on investment. Overall, I’m feeling a strong 8 on this album. Check it out for yourself and enjoy!